Portland Officer Leo Besner could be the poster child for the city's high payouts when police are accused of using excessive force.

Since 2003, Besner has cost the city at least $852,000 from tort claims or jury awards, including the city's largest payout from a shooting -- $500,000 to the family of a man Besner shot while he was on the phone with police negotiators.

Top 10 payouts, 2004-2009

The top payouts from claims filed against Portland police, 2004-2009

1. $500,000 -- Raymond Gwerder, fatally shot in the back by Officer Leo Besner while Gwerder was on the phone with police hostage negotiators. (2008)

2. $350,359 -- James Jahar Perez, fatally shot by police while seated in his car after a traffic stop. (2004)

3. $311,000 -- Daniel G. Thomas, a 67-year-old retired machinist, who accused police of excessive force after he came out of his house with his hands up after a dispute with a neighbor. He said police slammed him face down on the asphalt and stomped on his bare feet. He was charged with attempted fourth-degree assault and interfering with police and was acquitted. (2003)

4. $200,000 -- Dennis Young, shot and killed by Lt. Jeffrey Kaer, who responded on his own to his sister's call of a suspicious car outside her home. (2006)

5. $200,000 -- Erin Berry, who lost the tip of her right index finger after she was injured during a Portland police cadet program. (2004)

6. $150,000: Barbara Weich, who accused Officer Gregory Adrian of malicious prosecution and battery. According to her federal suit, she suffered a head injury and broken left arm after she swore at the officer during a traffic stop. He booked her on a felony charge of eluding a police officer, but the charge was dismissed. (2005)

7. $105,505: Two women who filed federal lawsuits after being asked by Officer John Alexander Wood to lift their skirts and show him their underwear or risk being taken to jail for drunk driving. The officer resigned and gave up his certification.(2009)

8. $93,006: Mayra Valle Aviles, who accused 12 officers of unreasonable seizure and detention. The federal suit said police broke down her door, fired flash bombs, and shot and killed two dogs. Aviles, who was in bed, said police threw her on the floor and handcuffed her. She was stunned with a Taser and dragged outside in her night clothes. The suits says Aviles speaks no English and was not the person wanted. (2006)

9. $78,750: Randall Cooley accused Officer Michael Close in a federal suit of breaking his wrist and using excessive force while unlawfully detaining him. (2007)

10. $67,500: David A. Tracy accused Officers Clayton Teel and Jeff Ciri of excessive force and denying him medical attention. In his federal suit, he said they tackled him, leaving him with multiple broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and other injuries. Police took him to detox. Tracy later went on his own to a local ER, with multiple facial fractures and a skull fracture. (2005)

Criminal justice experts say the city's liability is just one way to flag problematic police conduct. Yet attorneys who regularly sue the city say the Police Bureau is slow to act against officers repeatedly named in lawsuits who cost the city thousands of dollars.

City attorneys say the payouts don't necessarily suggest police acted inappropriately, and they may be less costly than going to court. Besner says police work is inherently risky and certain assignments put some officers in a position to face more claims.

City risk managers and police supervisors say they pay attention to litigation. In recent years, they've changed policy and training when claims or lawsuits have pointed out problems.

"We're trying to identify any issues, areas of concern or corrective action that should take place," said Mike Palmer, the bureau's safety and risk officer. "We're watching these claims from Day One. We don't want to wait until after a large settlement."

Portland has paid more than $3 million in the past five years to settle legal claims against police. Litigated cases often don't result in settlements until two or three years after a lawsuit is filed, and one or two big cases can drive up a year's figures substantially.

It's difficult to compare Portland with cities of similar size because Oregon caps public liability. Still, the figure rankles the police union president, who says the city should not be so quick to settle.

"The payout comes years after the incident, so the figures for 2008 don't reflect what's happening now," Walker said.

But examining legal claims is an important way for agencies to discover patterns in policing or problems with certain officers, Walker said. "It's a matter of learning from it, asking what went wrong," he said.

Portland has long been considered one of the better cities when it comes to claims against police, Walker said. Some cities don't even think about risk management, he said.

A review or a waste?

In 2005, the city council directed the Independent Police Review Division to review tort claims and civil suits and initiate police internal investigations when warranted.

Last year, the division opened complaints on 13 of 163 civil claims but dismissed all but four because the claimant or his lawyer declined to help.

Lawyers say it's not worth their time.

On July 11, 2007, for example, attorney Greg Kafoury filed a notice of intent to sue the city on behalf of Harold Hammick, Ri'Chard Booth and Alex Clay, who said police mistreated them during an encounter in a downtown parking garage.

Pete Sandrock, the division's assistant director, sent Kafoury a letter asking to interview the plaintiffs. He didn't get a response.

Kafoury notes that Sandrock's letter wasn't sent until 14 months after he filed the tort claim and two months after he filed suit in Multnomah Circuit Court. "The police review board is structually incapable of dealing justice because all the real power still resides with the police," he said.

In late September, a jury awarded Kafoury's clients $175,000 in damages for the way officers -- one of whom was Besner -- treated them. The three described 40 minutes of terror in which they were pulled from a car at gunpoint while officers searched the vehicle. One said Besner punched his groin twice as police checked to see whether the handgun Hammick was carrying was stolen. Hammick had told police he was "carrying" and showed them his concealed handgun license.

Besner says he acted based on his experience with shootings downtown after clubs closed involving suspects who got into fights and then retrieved guns from their cars.

Kafoury said he watched the evening news after the verdict and saw Detective Mary Wheat, the police spokeswoman, say the bureau stood by the officers.

"If getting hit for nearly $200,000 by a jury doesn't persuade the police department that perhaps their officers were out of line, then one has to wonder what it takes to get their attention," Kafoury said.

Attorney Spencer Neal represented a woman pulled from bed, handcuffed and shot with a stun gun who won a $93,000 settlement in 2006. He said responding to the review division would waste his client's time.

"I have no faith in the system." Neal said.

Neal also won a $140,000 settlement from the city in 2003 after Besner and another transit officer questioned and threw to the pavement a 15-year-old girl who, while waiting for a bus home from school in Old Town, reached into her friend's pants pocket to remove a soda bottle.

"If I had an employee working for me who was not only repeatedly sued, but I had to pay thousands of dollars because of his actions, I'd think 'What's wrong here?'" Neal said.

In the teen's case, Besner said she disregarded orders to keep her hands out of her pocket.

Besner says he's more likely to be involved in claims because he has worked in high vice areas and actively goes after suspects. His actions result from 15 1/2 years of police experience, his training, the circumstances in each case and his intuition, he said. All police work, even driving a car, is risky, he says.

"We provide a service that is a cottage industry for attorneys," he said, questioning what lawyers make from such claims.

Job is high risk

Deputy City Attorney Dave Woboril said police managers do notice when officers are repeatedly sued. But bureau officials, who would not talk specifically about Besner, caution that an officer's assignment to a high-risk unit could drive up that officer's claims.

Besner, once a sniper on the Special Emergency Reaction Team, left the team in March 2007. He said he chose to leave, calling it a personal decision. He has worked patrol his entire career, now in the North Precinct.

The police bureau has a Tort Claim Review Board, formed in July 2008, which meets monthly, includes city risk managers, police training and internal affairs captains, and city attorneys. It reviews tort claims, which are notice of intent to sue the city, and may review a jury award to see whether the bureau or the independent review board missed anything.

Police senior claims analyst Mike Hefley, a retired detective, says the city must be careful about drawing conclusions from jury awards.

"That's why it's so important to have a good jury ... who really understands police use of force, and is not swayed by the media," he said.

After a reporter interviewed Palmer and Hefley, Chief Rosie Sizer's office reported that the bureau will include the Hammick case in officers' training.

Of 207 tort claims reviewed between August 2008 and July 2009, the bureau set aside 25 for follow-up. Most dealt with complaints of thefts or missing property from towed vehicles.

The bureau has since tightened how police document valuables in cars and tried to audit cars towed to watch for an internal theft problem. Before 2008, city attorneys met informally with police brass to review claims.

City attorneys sometimes offer to settle lawsuits as a "prudent business practice," to avoid costly attorney fees, but it doesn't mean police violated policy, Woboril said.